Still Believing in ANOK: F.U.A.L. "Veganic wind" Lp, 2017

To this day I am not sure how you are supposed to pronounce the name of this band properly. Is it like "fuel" with the phoneme [əl] something like [ˈfjuːəll]? Or should you pronounce each letter separately like you do for T.S.O.L. or C.F.D.L.? I would be lying if I claimed that I talk about F.U.A.L. often. In fact, to be honest, I cannot remember the last time I did but it would have been along the lines of: "Do you know a band called fuel, or maybe fuale, or F.U.A.L. even? You don't? What a shame, go pose somewhere out of my sight". So not much success in terms of proselytising I'm afraid. And yet F.U.A.L. are absolutely brilliant and I believe that, would people be more aware of their existence, they would probably be right into them and some would make pricy bootleg shirts. 

Tragically, the band suffers from the same disadvantageous bias as many other Belfast punk bands who have often been isolated and forgotten in the very London-centric collective memory of British punk. The work of Ian Glasper, and several other writers afterwards, definitely gave some highly deserved space and context to the Belfast scene and its bands and I am convinced that it allowed some of us to discover some underestimated and overlooked bands from Northern Ireland like the magnificent Toxic Waste (the reissue of Belfast by Sealed Records was long overdue and I am very grateful to the label for resurrecting this classic) or the fabulous Stalag 17 (who should be reissued, I am going to petition labels). I knew Toxic Waste before The Day the Country Died, of course, because I am the coolest kid in town and I already wrote a lengthy article about the legendary split that you can read admiringly and with delight here.       

I first became aware of F.U.A.L. browsing on Ebay which I must say is not my greatest pride. I wish I had an epic story about how I accidentally found a F.U.A.L. Lp while dumpster-diving in Berlin, a tale that would earn me an infinite amount of punk points until I retire and ascertain my dominance over the masses. But I don't have one, sadly. Let's not judge, right? After reading a rather flattering description of the band from the seller, I bought the tape version of the F.U.A.L. album entitled Fuck Up and Live! with the booklet missing of course so that I really had very little information about the band. In fact I was not even sure what the actual name was. F.U.A.L.? Or Fuck Up and Live!? That would have been in early 2006 and I was unable to find much about them even on some message boards I was a part of (they mostly argued about Japanese hardcore and digital downloads on those anyway which sounds pretty adorable in retrospect). At that point, punk blogs were still not that common too so I was left in the dark, in a cesspit of shameful ignorance. 

Fortunately with my best mate, we spent a couple of weeks in Ireland that summer to visit some friends. There was a party one night where I was introduced to a friendly fellow who was supposed to be some kind of experts in Irish punk music so I immediately started to bother him with F.U.A.L.. Or Fuck Up and Live!. Or Fueal. The guy was clearly patient and willing to help but he just did not understand which band I was talking about. Frustrating indeed. But then I remembered that I had actually brought the tape with me. We often traveled with a little tape player so that we could play some music when hiking and I played the F.U.A.L. tape often at that time so it just made sense to bring it to Ireland. So I showed him the tape and he immediately lit up: "Oh right, you mean F.U.A.L., good man, they were grand, a cracking band (and a lot of other Irish ways to say a band is good)". So I got a bit of context and it was a good night indeed.

Fast forward a couple of years in 2009 and Boss Tuneage reissued the Lp and the Veganic Wind 1989 demo on a cd that I promptly bought. And then in 2017, the same label did a limited vinyl repress "made to order" of Veganic Wind that I also promptly bought. And that is the record of today. First, let's deal with the elephant in the room: yes the title is a fart joke. A bit odd considering F.U.A.L. were a serious band with political lyrics from the heart but I don't dislike a good fart joke, especially a vegan fart joke (some members of F.U.A.L. would go on to play in Bleeding Rectum so there could be an arse-related issue in Belfast after all). The band rose from the ashes of acts like Toxic Waste, Stalag 17 and Asylum (Belfast's anarcho Big Three) and there were many changes throughout the years. Let's just say that the lineup on Veganic Wind was made up of Brian (Asylum), Petesy (Stalag 17), Crispo (Crude and Snyde) and singer Louanne. 

The demo sounds like one with all that entails in terms of production and clarity but also as far as punk energy, sense of emergency and sheer emotion are concerned. F.U.A.L.'s first effort is heart-felt and you can sense the emotions, sincerity and passion in their songs and it is just beautiful. The band was not a one-trick poney either as there is a variety of paces, tones and structures throughout, from fast tuneful hardcore punk reminiscent of Dan ("Dead clergymen"), intense anarchopunk like Stalag 17 or Civilised Society? ("And the birdie said") but also melancholy goth-tinged poppy anarcho numbers ("Freedom under animal liberation" or "Repetition...") not unlike Indian Dream or Lost Cherrees. On paper, it could have a disparate feel, like a patchwork of styles and moods but the band managed to create a cohesive whole, a meaningful story. Those Belfast punks were inspired. In some arrangements and songwriting tricks, on some level, F.U.A.L. hinted unknowingly at what would come in the 90's and how political punk would evolve in some quarters. The Fuck up and live! Lp would have a much better production with more focus and impact and some songs were rerecorded but one could argue that Veganic Wind, for its ingenuous spontaneity and raw emotions had more charm. And it had a fart joke. That's difficult to top.

The lyrics of F.U.A.L. are long, detailed and tackled political subjects such as exploitation, ecology and  heavy subjects like the situation in Northern Ireland (from a personal perspective rather than slogans). It's angry but also hopeful. The band was very involved with the Warzone Collective and Giro's, a self-managed social center created in 1986. I recommend you read their chapter in Trapped in a Scene, it is very informative. The demo was originally released in 1989 on Warzone Records. I don't suppose this Lp version is easy to find but the cd reissue might be.

Let's all run with the veganic wind.        

 

Veganic wind

Ten Steps to Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 2): Oi Polloi "Outrage" Ep, 1988

Oi Polloi. 

A name synonymous with respect, integrity, resilience and invigorating raucous singalongs for punks all around the world since 1981. Of course, the band has had more members than I have had showers so far this year, however the dedication and positive energy that the singer Deek demonstrates on stage and on records is truly remarkable and, indeed, inspiring. Throughout their almost four decades of activity, Oi Polloi have released a lot of records so that one may feel understandably a bit lost looking at their discography. Because they have always been a staunch DIY punk band with anarcho politics, Oi Polloi remained in the DIY circuit and kept playing and sharing records with younger punk bands and releasing materials for DIY labels, while many self-proclaimed "bigger" bands proved to be nowhere as hard-working or honest in their approach. As time passed, and contrary to many old punk bands who were disconnected with the real DIY punk scene, Oi Polloi's sound has consistently evolved along global contemporary punk trends. As a result, you can say that most of their works reflect and capture the sonic moods of specific time periods while still retaining that distinct "Oi Polloi touch". And since this Scottish lot were very much alive and kicking (hard, it has to be stated) when the original UK crust wave started, it is little wonder that their late 80's output encapsulates some of the defining features of the old-school crust sound.

OP are a rare band in that everybody kinda likes them, maybe not love them, but at least show some sort of respectful appreciation for what the band stands for and for giving punks the cathartic opportunity to shout "Punk picnic oi oi oi!" once a year (sometimes twice if you're lucky). I first heard OP in my teenage years, that confusing time when "streetpunk" and oi meant the world to me, a romantic era when lyrics about "punx and skins getting drunk together on the street because they were on the dole and rejected by the system that they had to fight to survive" symbolised the essence of "real punk" and had a gospel-like quality. Admittedly the words were mostly abstract since still being a high-school kid I was neither technically unemployed nor "on the street" and was neither even that sociable nor a heavy drinker. It was more of a teenage fantasy than anything I guess. But anyway, my best mate had taped an album of a mysterious band called "Oi Polloi" which I remember he described as a great oi band (but then, with not one but two "oi" in the moniker, the opposite would have been nothing shirt insulting) with a singer sounding like he'd swallowed a whole box of rusty nails. It was Unite and Win!,  of course, OP's first album, quite possibly a tape of the Step-1 reissue of 2001 but I never owned it so it is just an overeducated guess. I really enjoyed the tape and thought the massive terrace-styled chorus were ace but as I was getting more and more into Crass and official anarchopunk bands at that time, I also appreciated that some songs, judging from their titles, seemed more serious. The extraordinary realization that there was a whole anarchopunk scene in the 80's coexisting with the so-called UK82 wave was one of biblical proportions and I dove headfirst into that black and white world adorned with doves, circled E's and slogans written in the crass font. In fact, you could say that I am still happily swimming. The year 2002 proved to be crucial in my relationship with OP as it was marked with two important events. First, I obtained the Outraged By the System cd that compiled 1988's Outrage Ep and their 1987 split Lp with Toxik Ephex and should therefore have been called The Crust Collection (but I doubt Step-1 would have been up for it as it would have deterred the baldies from getting it). This cd was a right kick up the arse as it blew away what I had heard previously from OP. It was heavier, harsher and faster, more intense but still very groovy indeed. It was crust but bleary-eyed me did not know it at the time. Also in 2002, I got to see OP in action, live at an antifa festival in Geneva, Switzerland, and they were absolutely amazing, with a serious political message but also a lot of positivity and fun and I remember singing along hard on "The only release". This live experience was a second, well-deserved kick up my sorry arse and I felt silly for originally misconstruing OP as an "oi band with alright lyrics". I came home safe in the satisfactory knowledge that OP had been an anarchopunk band all along and have since only revisited their oi repertoire with great moderation (there are some enjoyable numbers if I'm being honest that do speak to the 16 year old fan of the Rejects, Blitz and the Upstarts that secretly lives inside me and only gets out when someone plays "East End" after 1am).

To accurately present all the evolutions of OP would be a tedious task so let's stick to one of the the band's major works, the Outrage Ep, released in 1988 on the famous Bristol-based label Words of Warning whose very first record was a 1986 compilation Ep entitled You are not Alone that already included OP with the song "Nuclear waste" (as well as Stalag 17, Hex and Symbol of Freedom, you can read my thoughts on it here). OP had already demonstrated rather aptly that they were more than able to deliver intense Discharge-inspired anarchopunk on their previous releases, and the very direct Resist the Atomic Menace 1986 Ep, on Endangered Musik, and the Unlimited Genocide split Lp with the magnificent AOA, released the same year on Children of the Revolution, featured raw, aggressive and quite convincing instances of that fast brand of anarcho music popularised by  the mighty Antisect, Anti-System or Icons of Filth, the latter being a major influence on OP's songwriting, especially regarding the combinations between the heavy mid-paced moments and the all out trashing ones, a delicate art if there ever was one. The band further increased the intensity on their two next releases that coincided with the arrival of guitar player Arthur who was admittedly rather fond of the then booming thrash metal sound (hence the numerous guitar solos, the man would join The Exploited later on). I am not going to delve too much on the 1987 split Lp with the insanely catchy and tuneful Toxik Ephex, but suffice it to say that the infusion of a more metallic guitar sound conferred a generous crusty crunch to OP's music. This development was perfectly logical as not only were many early 80's anarcho hardcore bands "going metal" by the mid/late 80's but a whole new generation of bands were pioneering a new sound, playing faster, darker and heavier punk music. Because OP have been around forever, their production is nowadays rarely approached from a global diachronic perspective which is a shame since the band's progression enlightens and illustrates that of anarchopunk and as the crust wave properly kicked in in 1987, it makes sense that the band's sound reflected that new development (although such processes are almost never the outcome of a conscious decision, they just happen during practice).

Outrage was recorded in 1988 with the same lineup as the Toxik Ephex split but the production is clearly more powerful and balanced and I don't think OP ever sounded as ferocious as on these four songs. The title song "Outrage" is a crushing metallic discharge-y number like Antisect and AOA at their most intense with a thrash influence reminiscent of Final Conflict or Legion of Parasites and probably too many solos (but then that's also what makes such records so charming). The next one is the anthemic "Thugs in uniform", a song that has been medically proven to coerce punks into raising their fist and sing along (still one of Nature's greatest mysteries). While written and recorded as an oi song in its early version, on this Ep "Thugs in uniforms" sounds like Hellbastard teaming up with Icons of Filth to cover the Cockney Rejects. It retains the yobbo punky snottiness of the original but with a crustified moshing power complete with wanton "huh". Just perfect. I absolutely love this song. The opening scorcher on side B might be my favourite though as this rerecording of "Resist the atomic menace" blows away the original. Starting in utmost epic fashion with a heavy mid-tempo beat and a galloping thrash riff, the song then explodes into an uncontrollable cavemen crust storm with classic OP singalongs for good measure. The level of intensity is through the roof here and I particularly appreciate how the song goes back to the early stenchcore metal part with added anarcho spoken words over it. Genuinely classic song that reminds me of Pro Patria Mori in terms of anarcho crusty metal punk power with hints of Concrete Sox and "Out from the void"-era Antisect. Phew. The last numebr "Death by night" is once again a direct, heavy and thrashing fast Discharge-inspired tune with massive chorus, crazy soloing and mean spoken parts. It is undeniably a great one taking cues from aforementioned scruffy bands and I am also hearing a Swedish influence, like Anti-Cimex or Crude SS maybe, which would make sense of course. The sound on Outrage is heavy and intense with the appropriate rawness, highlighting the band's ferociousness as the drum pummels, the guitar thrashes, the bass thunders and Deek alternately vociferates with his distinctive gruff tone or vehemently recites political speeches. This is uplifting, energetic and powerful old-school anarcho-crust and unquestionably a classic Ep of the genre although it is seldom hailed as such, as if the band's longevity and different incarnations somehow prevented one to look at some of their works individually and contextually. Thanks fuck I'm here.          

 

Lyrically, OP hit hard as usual with straight-forward, in your face protest words about the dangers of nuclear power plants (in particular Dounreay in northern Scotland), police brutality, mad scientists and governments and multinationals plundering the Earth and its people. Pretty typical tropes but each song is accompanied by a short explanatory text providing some insight about the context as well as useful contacts to get involved in the struggle. The band even included a short and devastating review emanating from the evil "music press" likening their sound to "a breath of fresh ordure, way surpassing all expectations of dreadfulness" which made me giggle. It would have made a great title for a record. My only issue with Outrage is that the cover looks bland and very unappealing, which, for such an intense record, is a real shame and arguably any other piece of artwork from the insert would have been a better choice. I would even argue that, had Outrage been graced with a cover meaningly conveying its crusty anarcho power (especially in the light of some subsequent OP's artworks), it might be held in higher regards nowadays. Following the Ep, the band would release their utterly classic - and ace-looking - album In Defence of Our Earth in 1990, also for Words of Warning, this one clearly a well-known and appreciated work reflecting OP's songwriting flair as well as a certain diversity. Still, it does not beat Outrage in terms of sheer power. But then, few records do.  

     

Oitrage    

Ten Steps to Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 1): Generic / Mortal Terror "S/t" split Lp, 1988

Hallo there, how's life? 

It has been four weeks since the end of the confinement and, little by little, it looks like the average locals are slowly finding their way back to being their own self-centered arseholes in an open air environment again. Excruciatingly banal stories of how they survived lockdown through Netflix and virtual boozing session with their mates now fill the air like butterflies in spring. I suppose future anthropologists will analyze this gregarious storytelling frenzy as a truly moving sign of resilience proving that life - or what passes for life anyway - always finds a way. As for me, I find it quite perplexing that the inevitable global realization that modern life is basically a massive existential void - one fueled by our own vanity, our shortening attention span and our belief in a new trinity made up of the superficial, the performative and the spectacular - has not sparked more philosophical questioning about the culture of consumerism, speed and artificial abundance we call home. 

Like everything else, punk-rock has been put on the back burner. At this time of the year, Europe is always full of touring bands looking for gigs and a way to sell their new record and the main issue has always been how to respond logistically to all the demands. But now, as Subhumans once said, there's no more gigs, at least for a while and no punk festivals will be held this summer. Punk is a multifaceted entity composed of several species and subspecies (often referred to as "scenes") that can usually coexist and even sometimes interbreed, although the gathering of some antagonistic punk species (like tough guy hardcore jocks and gutter teen punks) is injudicious and bound to result in testosterone contests, venue bans or plans of split records, which is much worse. However, there is one particular gene that runs through all the different punk tribes: the festival gene. Punks can't get enough of fests. Festival organizers tend to blend species that can appreciate, or at least tolerate, each other in order to avoid too much confrontation, so that everyone on location wears similar tribal distinctions that makes the audience feel at home and part of a passionate and dedicated community. From the outside, it just looks like two hundreds black-clad scruffy drunks in a field pretending to watch other scruffy drunks trying to play loud music on stage. But festivals can be said to symbolize the apex of the punk year as they are spaces for the expression and reaffirmation of a collective cultural identity. Ideally booked during the punk mating season, summer, festivals are also perfect opportunities to parade in full regalia in order to boast and impress potential partners, belittle possible rivals and cement your punk credibility through the acquisition of tasteful shirts and badges (you can stream the records online so why bother paying for them?), or you can also share beauty tips, trade useful contacts abroad for your next tour and further develop your love for nature in lice-ridden camping sites that are little more than a barren wasteland littered with cans and the first wave of festival goers. Heaven.

With the festival season basically ruined, the delicate reproductive cycle and natural balance of punk is endangered as the hot new bands of 2020 will not be allowed to tour this summer and that ace-looking studded jacket you completed in March will be left vastly unseen, a real shame if one considers the number of likes it already got on Insta. So what now? With the cancellation of punk festivals, summer can quickly get bleak and I have a feeling that the crust species, always particularly fond of festivals because of their natural tendency to get dirty and their imperviousness to most natural infections and parasites, will be especially badly hurt. And when my people are in trouble, when suffering awaits them, when they are no longer able to enjoy an average Doom-like band at 3am while downing their twentieth can of lager of the day, well it does make the eye watery and one just knows one just has to do something, especially if one never shirks from doing one's duty, albeit at one's small personal level, to make a festival-free summer bearable. So why not revisit records from the classic crust era, from the late 80's to the early 90's, and from the cradle of genre, Britain. I have been longing to write about (sometimes minor) UK crust classics for a while and now is as good a time as ever to indulge in this difficult but delightful task that will hopefully cheer up my fellow crusties in these dark times and provide with fancy topics of conversation and perhaps enlighten some commoners in the process (open-minded me, right?). 

What a lengthy introduction... My congratulations if you have read that far, your lionhearted tenacity shall be rewarded. Let's proceed to the actual record, one that I am particularly fond of and yet does not really get the credit it deserves. The hometown of Alan Shearer, Newcastle, and its wider area have always produced quality punk bands and the two participants of this split, Generic and Mortal Terror, both hailed from this town and epitomised that Northern take on the mid/late 80's UK hardcore wave although in different fashions. To be honest, I selected the album because of Mortal Terror, a band that, as one of the very first crust-influenced crust bands, managed to synthesise all the characteristics of the foundational crust wave in a very free and unselfconscious manner. Few crust records sound as gloriously spontaneous and punky as MT's side of the split with Generic and I cannot overstate how much I like it and, in fact, for a self-proclaimed crusty to claim the opposite would be tantamount to high treason. Therefore, although Generic technically occupy the first side of the Lp, I will deal with MT first. Let's start with a bit of formative history. Trapped in a Scene tells us that there were a couple of pre-MT bands, none of which released a demo, though I would have loved to give Nausea a listen as it was made up of Duncan and Scales who ended up in MT, Steve who went on drumming for Senile Decay and Hellkrusher (and much later one The Vile) and of Mandy, on the bass, who would end up singing in Health Hazard. By early 1988, the first MT lineup solidified with the aforementioned Dunc on the guitar and Scales on vocals, another singer named Pug, bass player Phil and another Phil on the drums who was at the time also responsible for the epic rhythm section of Newcastle's undisputed crust heroes Hellbastard. Small world, innit?

I already wrote a bit about MT ages ago (well, in 2012) when I tackled their split Lp with Aural Corpse but the split Lp with Generic being my favourite, I had always been toying with the idea of ranting once again on the crusty allurement of MT. I have to concede that, at first, I thought that the split with Aural Corpse was the band's first. My reasoning - if flawed - was pretty sound and based on the theory of punk evolution which determines that the Antisect/Anti-System/AOA anarcho hardcore style predates the ENT/Deviated Instinct crusty mayhem. However MT did it the other way around, starting with crust savagery and ending up sounding like they were around in late 1984, which was fairly unusual. In our deleteriously hyperconnected world, the relative obscurity of MT remains mysterious and I am disconsolate to confess that my specially-made MT shirt has not yet proved to convert anyone to the band's greatness. Truly unexplainable when one considers that MT's music is crust gratification of the highest order and tick absolutely all the boxes you are entitled to expect from an old-school UK crust record. From their very moniker that manages to sound formulaic even in 1988, but is at least an honest indication as to what you are going in for, to the obligatory ten second joke "song", the numerous mid-tempo filthy metallic "stenchcore" moments, the hyperbolic dual vocal cavemen crust teamwork, the epic grungy introduction to the deliciously raw and urgent sound (the eleven songs were recorded in five hours for £29), the MT side is classic in the best sense of the term, reminiscent of early Extreme Noise Terror for the speed and the brutally angry vocals, Terminal Filth Stenchcore Deviated Instinct and Grind the enemy Axegrinder for the crunchy and dirty dark metal riffing, Ripper Crust Hellbastard for the epic crust power and even early Napalm Death and Sore Throat when MT sound at their most manic and obnoxious. Whenever I play their side of the split (which is often, hence the skips), my face light up with beatific glee and the moment when the first song "Horrible death" kicks in into that typical, quintessential early crust sound after the ominously catchy introduction, to me, that epiphanic moment basically signifies crustness in all its disgusting glory. The ultimate crash course in crust.

This recording is equally fascinating because it stands for an early instance of crust-inflenced crust music, meaning that MT were one of the first punk bands to borrow openly from the genre's forefathers - who were peaking at the time - and try to replicate and indeed synthesise the original UK crust sound. The force of the band in 1988 precisely lied in their youthful and direct synthesis of the crust style that was at its apex at the time and could even be said to become quite derivative at that point. Therefore, I would further that MT absolutely sounded like generic UK crust and that, if in the late 80's or early 90's it would have been something of a limitation, a couple of decades later, I would argue that it is precisely what makes it so good and the perfect synthetic introduction to the original sound of crust. Besides, if you are really craving for creativity you've got that moody anarchopunk tone on "Sick butchers" and an merry oi-ish vibe of "Yankee go home" that does not really work that well but you could argue that such creative imperfections and silly humorousness are part and parcel of the crust genre and are therefore legitimate. MT's insert is a traditional cut'n'paste artwork completed with a sloppy collage and the lyrics are politically-oriented and deal with with animal abuse, US imperialism and an evil man called Bernard.

On the first side of the Lp are another Geordie orchestra, Generic, who were, in a paradoxical act of self-awareness and humility, not that generic in the British context of the mid/late 80's. If you hold any interest in that part of the music scene, then you will undoubtedly be familiar with Generic. If the name does not at least ring a distant bell, I'd, first, recommend a serious re-assessment of your life priorities and second, an immediate exploration of the band's solid discography. I wouldn't blame you too harshly for this academic lacuna since, in spite of releasing three Ep's and two split Lp's between 1985 and 1989 and being really active during a crucial period of the UK punk scene, Generic are tragically seldom discussed nowadays. As usual for this type of band, I strongly suggest you read their chapter in Trapped in a Scene if you want all the juicy bits about how they came to be, but since I don't really have anything better to do right now, I might as well throw in a couple of trivia details. The band formed in 1985 in Newcastle and was made up of Sned and Micky, who used to play in the excellent anarcho band Blood Robots, and of Terry and Wizz from In Memorium (which I have never heard). The driving idea behind Generic was to play energetic and angry hardcore punk with uncompromising political lyrics and although it would not be irrelevant to classify the band in your dusty and thick "fast hardcore thrash" folder, some pieces of songwriting were still quite reminiscent of the golden anarcho age (for example in the band's frequent use of spoken parts or in some of their darker, more tuneful moments), an artistic take on the 80's hardcore genre that undeniably increased my liking for them. Sure, you can enthusiastically jump and wear bandanas to the music, but there is always a Chumba-like moment just around the corner as well (or even litteral Chumba members like on the Torched Ep).

I freely admit that I played the Ep's more frequently than the Lp's and I feel that the Generic side on this particular album would have made a good Ep, were it not for the strange and uselessly long dub outro to "Violation" and the rather forgettable untitled last song (more a joke than anything else I guess). By the time Generic recorded the songs for the split, the lineup had changed several times and the band even survived a separation. As well as drumming, Sned played the bass on this one, with Wizz on the vocals and Terry on the guitar. If you are looking for energetic, versatile and angry hardcore punk with raspy vocals this sunday then it might very well do the trick. The songs are mostly fast-paced but the many manic tempo changes and songwriting creativity, notably some delightfully heavy crusty mid-paced moments or eerie anarcho intros, keep the listener on his or her toes and engaged. Clearly not formulaic and taking inspiration from a wide hardcore spectrum, Generic stood for international hardcore punk, both musically and conceptually, more than any other British bands at the time. I can hear MDC, CCM, Siege, Negazione, Olho Seco, Heresy, BGK, Black Flag, Kuro and probably many others. While the creeping anarchopunk influence gives away that Generic are indeed an 80's English bunch (the accent effortlessly revealing the specific region), I would argue that the music's core, its inspiration lies in the international hardcore wave and in the desire to be a part of it in the philosophy of "act locally, think globally". A pretty good listen even though I keep thinking that with a bit of trimming it would have a smashing Ep instead of a decent split Lp. In terms of lyrical content on this one, Generic appear to be quite critical of "the scene" and all the stereotyping, especially as far as masculinity is concerned, it can generate. There are also songs of empowerment encouraging you to seize the day. Generic always had relevant and relatable political and personal lyrics and it is indeed very shocking to know that the singer Wizz later on got charged with sexual misconduct which understandably makes an official Generic discography impossible.

This split Lp was released on classic Darlington-based label Meantime Records (run by Ian from Dan) in 1988 and I'm starting to realize that I'm basically posting all the Meantime discography little by little. Damn. After this album, MT went on to release another split Lp with Aural Corpse with a different lineup on Looney Tunes Records before they split. Scales then went on to sing in Sawn Off (with Sned from Generic) in the late 90's and Afterbirth in the mid 00's while Dunc played in Grudge. Generic recorded a last Ep, Torched, after this Lp. Drummer Sned and first guitar player Micky reunited in the great One By One in the early 90's and played in many bands afterwards (without mentioning running Flat Earth Records for Sned).

Enjoy this humble album as it conveys a relevant image of what the DIY punk scene was about in the North of England in terms of music and honesty. I love it.

PS: unrelated to the issue but since it cannot be said enough: fuck the police institution, fuck white supremacy, fuck the class system. Fuck.  

Generic Terror

Last Week's Trend is Now Passé (part 9): AOA "Satisfactory Arrangement" Lp, 1988

It is April Fool's Day and the joke is that most of the world population is in lockdown because of a depressive-looking reptilian anteater. The ground we are treading is shaky and little is known about our post-apocalyptic future, even for a scholar as resourceful and adroit as yours truly. The sad truth is that all I can do is to keep burbling on and on about some obscure, and yet wicked, bands in an attempt to illuminate the daily lives of millions around the globe. It is therefore my imperious duty as well as my unshakable resolve to keep writing and, through sharp wit and astute examination, fight boredom, banality and vapidity, for a better and unconfined tomorrow, when the whole Terminal Sound Nuisance staff will be, once again, able to run free, or at least take brisk walks, in their natural habitat, characteristically littered with dog excrements, greenish phlegm and pools of piss: the pavements of Paris. But until the glorious day arrives when liberty is restored (and when Parisians can rudely and selfishly complain their way through life again), I am afraid we will have to anaesthetise ourselves with the blue light of screens but thankfully I am here to provide you with some quality, highbrow entertainment that will give you a precious opportunity to shine at punk trivias and maybe find a mate (recent studies in punk anthropology have shown that such social events play an important role in punks' mating season).

As we are drawing near the end of Last Week's Trend is Now Passé, it being a ten-part series, I figured that it would be interesting to include a hard-hitting and uncompromising hardcore punk record. Until then, I had favoured that brand of poppy, tuneful and moody punk-rock that we have collectively grown to associate, in a retrospective and sometimes decontextualised movement, with the notion of 80's UK anarchopunk. I believe that this tendency is a double-edged sword. While on the one hand, I can conceive that this propensity to isolate certain specific descriptive traits common to a significant number of bands pertaining to a similar cultural context (the so-called anarchopunk waves) can be useful to generalise and create an actual musical genre, on the other hand the rhetorical boundaries that "genre-making" inevitable occasion tend to exclude bands that, on the surface, do not fit with the established identificational parameters. This is a highly subjective process of course - and one that is completely independent from the band's volition - and the doxastic template that this past decade and social media qualified as "anarchopunk" is subject to change, but it also accounts for uninformed but loud discrepancies that, as a sanctimonious nerd, I just cannot let go. My point, you may ask? Well, why don't people worship more the mighty AOA? Granted, too many people wrongly equate "postpunk" with "anarchopunk" nowadays, with rather equivocal results, but that a band like AOA -who proudly stood for that influential and potent school of Discharge-fueled anarchopunk, who existed for eight years and released three records, who were undisputedly one of the most fiercest-sounding entities of the era and whose shirt I have been wearing since the mid 00's - is not held in the highest regard is just criminal. But I will do my best not to give the impression that I am declaiming from the pulpit and damning all the heathens to HELL.

There is a good chapter about AOA in The Day the Country Died so as usual I encourage you to get a copy. I remember distinctly the first time I read about AOA, or rather the first time I saw about them. My unhealthy passion for punk shirts - some would call it hoarding, really - is not new and I have been known to hover around distro tables, on the lookout for neat Amebix tops among other treats. As soon as I had access to an internet connection, I feverishly scrutinised online distros, often from overseas, that offered a wide range of punk shirts. Among them was Punk Stuff, who seemed to screen-print shirts from all my favourite bands which caused me to gasp in awe (and eventually pass out) the first time I browsed their selection. Among all these brilliant designs was one that I had never seen before from a band I had never heard of before: AOA and their legendary peace logo that can be found on the cover of Who are they Trying to Con. Here was an unknown punk band that I instinctively knew would irrevocably become a favourite of mine. A truly cosmic awakening. My attempts at intimidating older punks into taping some AOA materials sadly remained ineffective but fate was on my side since the extraordinary punk anthem "Who are they trying to con" got picked by Overground Records for inclusion on the Anti-Society compilation cd in 2006. Shortly after, I was able to find a copy of the Satisfactory Arrangement Lp for a decent price, an acquisition which made the purchase of the aforementioned shirt from Punk Stuff both legitimate and vital.

When one ponders over the trending topic of furious, hardcore-sounding, vintage anarchopunk bands - and one is entitled to do so every so often, as a health measure - one usually comes up with such Discharge-influenced legendary bands like Antisect, Anti-System or Icons of Filth, and one isn't wrong to be sure, however one still makes the common mistake to omit to include AOA in this exclusive list, a faux pas that would have you thrown in my personal pangolin tank in a Terminal Sound Nuisance utopia. AOA were from Loanhead, South of Edinburgh, Scotland, and formed in 1982. The AOA acronym originally stood for All Out Attack (if you were not into Blitz at 16, you definitely suck at being a punk), but other versions comprised All Our Anger or Antithesis Of Apathy. I suppose the band is mostly remembered for their blistering 12'' Who are they Trying to Con from 1985, released on Children of the Revolution Records, and fair enough, I would argue it is one of the best Discharge-inspired recordings to come out of the UK and songs like "Disaster area" or the title track are brutal slabs of unadulterated 80's anarchopunk anger. Also on COR, the following year, with a new drummer, they shared a split Lp with their partners in crime Oi Polloi entitled Unlimited Genocide that easily stands as one of the greatest Scottish anarchopunk records with both bands delivering some seriously hard-hitting anarcho thrash on their respective side, with AOA sounding like a no holds barred brawl between Antisect, Crucifix and Warwound. After this Lp, the singer Steven settled in London where he went on to front the crusty hardcore thrash unit Gutrot (with Darren from Axegrinder on the drums) which prompted AOA to recruit Murph, on vocals, and Loaf, on the drums, from another local punk bands called The Degenerates. This lineup recorded the Satisfactory Arrangement Lp on two separate occasion, the first time in December, 1986, and the second almost a year later, in November, 1987.

I am not sure why the band waited that long between the two sessions but unfortunately there are disparities between them, further reinforced by the fact that each session corresponds to one of the side of the vinyl. Let's start with the A side that includes the '87 recording session. Clearly the most creative of the two, this side sees AOA experiment more emphatically than usual with several pounding tempos, from their customary Discharge beat, to heavy anarcho tribal rhythms and mid-paced hardcore charges, the songs always hit hard but remain quite unpredictable in terms of patterns, not unlike a more raging Conflict maybe. While I love the songwriting on this side of Lp, I have to say that the guitar sounds too murky and lacks in aggression while you cannot hear all the elements of the drum kit (like the bass drum for instance). On the contrary, the bass sounds fantastic (and there are some ace bass lines for the listener to enjoy), groovy and driving, and the vocals are perfectly recorded for the genre, very upfront and distinguishable. As a result of this imbalance, you have very strong songs that are missing the energy and the precision that a cohesive production would have offered. I am not saying that it is a mess, it's really not, but just a missed opportunity especially since the band was bringing new things to the table, like more thrashing Broken Bones-like metallic riff, more diversity on the drums and even atmospheric and gloomy Amebix-like moments, almost qualifying this recording as proto-crust.

The B side with the late '86 session is probably half-way between the Unlimited Genocide split Lp and the A side of Satisfactory Arrangement in terms of songwriting, as the new drummer was already trying new things. Contrary to the A side, the production does justice to the songs this time. AOA unleash their crushing power there with six songs of manic anarcho hardcore thrash, somewhere between Antisect or Anti-System for the dark and relentlessness aggression, Exit-Stance or Icons of Filth for the direct suffocating heaviness and mid/late 80's Chaos UK for the furious hostility, the merging of those influences creating a Scottish brand of uncompromising anarchopunk that Oi Polloi would also carry. New singer Murph, for his first session with the band, does a magnificent job at conveying a sense of visceral outrage and of uncontrollable threat that take the whole Lp to a different level. The man could shout his head off like a demented soul, but also utter fierce political statements during classic moments of anarcho spoken parts, while always sounding naturally pissed off and about to grab you by the throat, the gruff tone of his voice like the epitome of anger. Unsurprisingly, the lyrics confirm that AOA were not exactly content with the state of the world. The mid-80's were bleak and it shows. My copy of the Lp does not have an insert but the lyrics can be found in the thick booklet that came with the official AOA discography double cd, Axis Of Ascendancy self-released by the band in 2008. From the brutality of the English colonial rule in Northern Ireland, to the lethality of so-called "non-lethal weapons", to the mass control of population, social subservience, the need to work together, global pollution caused by manmade economic systems and of course vivisection.

In the end, Satisfactory Arrangement leaves a strange taste in the mouth, with one side being decent but still impaired by a weak production, while the other one is an anarcho hardcore whirlwind foaming with rage. I personally cannot help imagining how bloody amazing the first side would have sounded with a crunchier, more powerful guitar sound and drum parts you can actually discern. Of course, "what ifs" being pointless to confront our sinister reality, I still warmly recommend this geezer. It was released on Endangered Musik in 1988, a label run by Steve Beatty who actually drummed once for AOA in Bristol (as he was already hitting things with Stone the Crowz) after their own drummer had left only days before the beginning of the tour!
     

Absolutely classic stuff.

All Out Anger  

Summer comps not summer camps (part 5): "Spleurk!" compilation Lp, 1988

There you go, here is the fifth installment of my unseasonal series about lovely compilations to listen to in the summertime. Some argue that I should have picked at least one record that includes jumpy, shorts-wearing Californians - usually wannabes - singing in nasal tones, but I just did not find it in my heart - and in my record collection - to do it. I suppose you can consider yourselves lucky for that discrepancy since I have never been into melodic hardcore from that side of the pond and writing about it would have been very challenging indeed (not to mention ripe with gratuitous negativity). So let's stick with the comfort zone of UK punk, although, it has to be pointed out, some bands on this one certainly looked up to American melody makers.

OMG! A barcode! :'o

I guess a compilation Lp called Spleurk conjures up images of nasty, distasteful, gore-oriented grindcore bands or numbingly deafening one-man noisecore bands, but you would be wrong. If the onomatopoeia is indeed used to convey the sense of something slimy and gross splashing on a surface (like a fat smoker's phlegm or a slice of your granny's sunday cake), the lineup of Spleurk has more than a few tunes in its bags and sounds decidedly more melodic than other late 80's UK compilations like Hiatus or Digging in Water (but about as much as Airstrip One if you need a point of comparison). But then, I suppose it makes sense since Spleurk was released on Meantime Records - the label founded by Ian Armstrong, who played in the tuneful Dan and then Sofahead - an entity that illustrated two coexisting sonic faces of the UK punk scene of the mid/late 80's. If Meantime did put out some illustrious gruff crust works by the likes of Sore Throat, Hellbastard or Mortal Terror, it also promoted the more melodic, US-influenced part of the scene with records from HDQ, Exit Condition or Leatherface, which certainly showed that there was more variety to the punk scene then than what is officially thought. As a result, the Lp sounds very diverse and, if it would be far-fetched to claim that it is packed with unforgettable punk anthems (the epic claim is often found on the cover of corny streetpunk/oi compilations and it is pretty much never true, I mean, who really needs live versions of Anti Nowhere League or Anti Pasti?), there are still some genuinely brilliant songs that will surely make your punk day. Besides, the Lp includes a thick booklet with artworks and lyrics from - almost - all the bands and that, faithful readers, is what a top notch comp is all about.

The first band of the Lp is Exit Condition, who hailed from one of punk's most sacred places: Stoke-On-Trent. Now, I am sure that the band is revered in some dark, badly ventilated corners of the punk scene but I am not that familiar with their discography (especially their 90's period). What I do know however is that their late 1988 Ep, Bite Down Hard, was not only a prime example of energetic and fast melodic hardcore but also ticked three incredible boxes for the time: it was released on Pusmort, produced by Bones and had a cover drawn by Squeal. If that does not qualify the Ep as a classic, I don't know what would. The song "Twisted tracks" is taken from EC's first demo tape, Impact Time, recorded in early 88', which was rawer and snottier than the Ep (works for me) but already contained the formula the band were great at, fast hardcore with great tunes, reminiscent of Hüsker Dü, Minor Threat and The Stupids. This is a perfect opener from a solid band that, I'm guessing, must be held in very high esteem by some segment of the punk population.

Next are Gold, Frankincense + Disk- Drive but first, that we will refer to as GFDD from now on for the sake of decency. I don't really know them that well but they had a song on an early Peaceville sampler and their first '87 Lp was also released on the label. I think they were from the Leeds area since Mavis and Harry from Chumbawamba (and Passion Killers for the former!) collaborated with the band on the aforementioned album. Musically I suppose you could say GFDD (who were really a dynamic duo) played progressive punk. Or something. Their songs had a lot of variations and variety and included drum machines, samples, weird sound effects. Interesting, creative stuff for sure but it's not really my cuppa. "Necessary extremes" sounds like a trancey, darkened, demented bend of GBH, NoMeansNo and industrial punk (?).

Cowboy Killers then follow with the song "Your dreaming" (a spelling mistake since it should have been "You're dreaming" as is indicated on the CK's first Lp, Koyaanisqatsi, for which the band re-recorded the song). This number is a sarcastic critique of anarchopunk's idealism and naivety (more often than not, their lyrics were often humorous and tongue-in-cheek) and Terminus even wrote the very serious song "We're dreaming?" in response to it. Anyway, CK were a fast, energetic and tuneful US-styled hardcore punk band (not unlike Bad Brains maybe) from Wales with great singalong chorus and a Biafra-esque singer who was famous for his stage antics. This early song was recorded in 1988 but the band kept going until 1999 which is quite an achievement. 

Sore Throat are next with a...let's call it a noise contribution. Technically, the band has four ""songs"" on Spleurk but three of them are just two second long bursts of savagery while the fourth one is a crunchy Frost-like cavemen stomp with a filthy metal riff and over-the-top gruff crustier than crust vocals. Yes, I love it. Misaaaarrrrrrggghhhhhhey! I'm sure you already know about Sore Throat so need to dwell upon them. Let's just say that your dad won't probably like them too much.

After this much-needed break of neanderthalic music, let's get back to some cracking tunes with the mighty Cold Vietnam from Redditch. Actually, I have already talked about them in the past for the 8 Years Too Late article about melodic UK anarchopunk circa 88/92. This is what I had to say about them. And yes I am literally quoting myself:

"This was an obscure band from the same area as Joyce McKinney Experience that only released one demo and appeared on a handful of compilations between 1988 and 1989: Cold Vietnam. Based in Redditch, the guitarist and singer, Andy Forward, had also played on Visions of Change's final LP, My Mind's Eye in 1989. Cold Vietnam formed in 1986 after the demise of several other local bands. They were apparently not too active for the first year but, in 1988, they managed to record a demo, Blast Into Action with Hunt the Man, that should have taken them to much greater things. Despite a cover reminiscent of the cheapest crossover music, the demo tape is an incredible effort. Carried by the singer's powerful and tuneful voice, "Blast Into Action" is a unique collection of political punk hits (with a strong emphasis on animal rights) and displays a wide variety of genres, from moody anthemic post punk, to passionate melodic US hardcore, to mid-tempo anarcho punk, to melodic UK punk rock and even a punky reggae number. Perfectly produced, this demo is one of the most underrated recordings of this era. Two songs were lifted from it and landed on the brilliant "Spleurk" compilation LP in 1988. Released on Meantime Records, it saw Cold Vietnam rub shoulders with bands like Sofa Head, HDQ and Cowboy Killers. It was not however Cold Vietnam's first vinyl appearance. Indeed, earlier in 1988, their song "Rock Stars" was included on a compilation LP entitled "Vinyl Virgins" that was aimed at providing a first vinyl appearance to promising rock bands! It was released on Mighty Sheffield Records and Cold Vietnam even contributed another song on the label's second compilation LP, Lemonade and Cyanide."  

CV have two songs on Spleurk, one on each side, "9-25" and "Hunt the man", both taken from their exquisite Blast into Action demo tape. "9-25" is an intense yet melodic hardcore number with catchy chorus reminiscent of this distinctly British, very tuneful take on hardcore that was rampant in the late 80's. "Hunt the man" is a hard-hitting, rocking mid-paced anarchopunk hit about animal rights. If Omega Tribe had been into heavy rock, it would have produced something close to this gem. A cracking, versatile band that had tremendous potential. 

The Fine Arts of hardcore

Trench Fever from Brixton, London, are up next and I must admit I have never really paid much attention to the band (though I really dig the name). Trapped in a Scene tells us that TF was made up of former Bad Dress Sense and Destructors (yes, Destructors!) members so you can already guess that they - also - played fast and tuneful UK hardcore influenced by Bad Brains and the likes, not unlike what Cowboy Killers or Depraved were also doing. Not bad but maybe a bit thin. I like the backing chorus and the cheesy drawing of the punk lad though.

People who are fortunate enough to know me will all tell you the same thing: I am a huge sucker for Dan. Of course, the name is terrible and the band's aesthetics rather peculiar but Dan bridged the gap between classic UK anarchopunk and melodic hardcore with maestria, one cracking tune after another. I don't like Sofa Head quite as much, probably because the vintage anarcho influence was more in the background, but I see them as the logical, diachronic continuation of Dan. Hailing from Darlington, SH had Meantime boss Ian on the bass and Wal on the guitar (both previously in Dan), Claire on vocals and Laing (from Hex, HDQ and Leatherface) on the drums. However, the SH songs included on Spleurk were not recorded with Laing but with former Dan's drummer Jim, so you've basically got Dan with new compositions and a new vocalist. The two tracks, "Ugly" and "World", are raw but potent melodic hardcore punk anthems with top notch guitar leads and bass lines, reminiscent of other Northern bands previously mentioned but with anarcho-tinged female vocals, not unlike Indian Dream or... Dan. Really classy stuff though you can tell that the band was still in its embryonic stages. I particularly like the moodiness of "World" (the full correct title is "A world fir for nothing") which would be re-recorded for the first album. Ace! 

Next are Chopper, who also have two songs on the Lp, "Mr Shitface" and "Workout!". Now I know nothing about Chopper but from what I can hear, they were a humorous, fast, snotty hardcore band. The playing is a bit sloppy and the songwriting fairly generic but the energy is there and the lyrics to "Workout!" are pretty funny indeed. Works well enough on this compilation for me. 

The aptly-named Why? follow with the very good song "It could be better". The band was from Brighton and had a demo tape with the ineptly-named Immolato Tomatoes (Why?'s drummer would join Sleep afterwards). Why? were, judging from their aesthetics and lyrics, an anarchopunk band but they were certainly influenced by the tunefulness and speed of US hardcore like many other bands at the time included on Spleurk. I guess they retain a punkier side which reminds me quite a bit of an '87 Revulsion jamming with an '87 Hex in HDQ's shed. I really like it! The riffs are very melodic and the singing almost too happy-sounding at times but there is an undeniable drive and sense of tunes here that I find most pleasing. I wish I knew more songs from them. How catchy can punk get?

And now let's have some half-demented, weirdo, surrealistic punk-rock in the guise of Shrug, a long-running theatrical band from Middlesbrough. They are somehow difficult to describe and I suppose that's the whole point of Shrug anyway. I can hear bits of All the Madmen type anarchopunk like The Astronauts or Blyth Power, some dirty psychedelic rock (especially with the garage beats and the organ) and an absurdist sense of humour like a more adult Wat Tyler. It is actually really good once you get into it and the song "Donna and the Daleks" (about Doctor Who obviously) will make you move your hips in a disorderly situationist fashion. If Beckett or Barthelme had been into punk, they would have listened to Shrug I'm sure. An entertaining and interesting bunch.

Next are Doom. Yes, Doom. Need I say more? Actually, yes, I kinda do. This version of "Agree to differ" was recorded in May, 1988, a few months after the War Crimes sessions and was part of an unreleased demo - their third one - entitled Domesday that you can listen to in its entirety on the retrospective Doomed from the Start (I recommend the cd version, for once, because it has a fourth demo as well). Ironically, "Agree to differ" was one of the only slow songs from Doom's repertoire, not to mention the longest. It was Doom at its rawest and most juvenile and I just love the dark tones and the threatening simplicity of this number. Unselfconscious crust. Lovely.

Following up, City Indians, from Derby, contributed one of Spleurk's most memorable moments with their song "Hanging by a thread". In spite of their well-meaning but rather awkward and cheesy name (but then, Flux of Pink Indians had opened that gate earlier), CI were a solid anarchopunk band around in the mid-80's whose drummer Andy would join the mighty Concrete Sox in 1986. Their first demo Spoilsport was enjoyable but pretty generic however, 1987 Root of Freedom was a much more accomplished, versatile anarcho work that was both hard-hitting and moody, somewhere between Conflict and Ad'Nauseam for their fast and angry side and The Mob or Omega Tribe for the mellower, more introspective, darker vibe permeating the songwriting. Very classy stuff and "Hanging by a thread", having been recorded just a few months after Root of Freedom, displays the same attributes. The song starts as a heavy, angry mid-paced number, not unlike Icons of Filth or Stone the Crowz, before going into a soft, poppy, almost hippyish moment with delicate harmonics and tuneful vocals (Omega Tribe really springs to mind), then the punky mid-tempo resumes before ending with rocking dissonant guitar solos. Quite a ride. The riffs are great, the vocals are pissed, low-pitched and adequately expressive and the conception of the song itself shows that CI certainly had original ideas about songwriting. Unfortunately I cannot say that their 1988 Ep lived up to what they displayed earlier. Still, someone should reissue the recordings from 1986 and 1987. For my birthday for example. Just saying.   

Anarcho Fine Arts 101

By comparison, Upset Tummy sound quite basic but no less enjoyable if you are into parodical anarchopunk spoken words. The song is called "State oppression" and it pretty much ticks all the boxes which makes me think that it is some kind of joke band (assuming it is an actual band). The address is from Gipsy Hill, London, where some well-known farcical jokers lived (and still do to my knowledge) so my best guess is that Sean Wat Tyler had some fun in the studio with a mate and send these 30 seconds of self-righteous anarcho outrage to Meantime. But I could be wrong.

Nox Mortis were of course much more serious - not to mention gloomier - and, like Cold Vietnam, I have already touched upon the band in that quixotic article about late 80's anarchopunk (here). If anything, our current decade can be defined as a very nostalgic one, to the point of goofiness at times. Not only are 80's punk-rock bands being reissued at a crazy pace, but even new bands tend to do little more than worship and refer to 80's punk-rock bands, often branded with the essentialist seal of "authenticity". And to be honest, it's not just punk-rock, it's pretty much a global postmodern urban thing. But anyway, I am dying to see the day when there will be a NM reissue. In fact, along with Awake Mankind, The Assassins and Polemic, NM is THE 80's anarchopunk band I would love to see reissued (and my opinion is gold so if you want to be seen as one of the cool kids, you should at least pretend to agree with the statement).

NM were from Southampton and formed in 1986 from the ashes of another local anarcho band called Suicide Pact (I unfortunately know only one song from SP but, based on that one number, they played moody female-fronted anarchopunk, just how I like it). Musically, the band was absolutely brilliant, tuneful and dark, passionate and desperate, angry and sad, reminiscent of Omega Tribe Kulturkampf, Naked or The Mob (or even Demob actually), with great emotional, bittersweet vocals, moody guitar leads and the catchiest of tunes. However, NM were not your typical punks: they were into poetry. To be more specific, into WW1 poets. Some of their songs ("Arms and the boys", "Flanders Field" and of course "In memoriam") were adaptations of poems from WW1 poets Ewart Alan Mackintosh, Wilfred Owen and John McCrae and the very name Nox Mortis referred to Paul Bewsher. Pretty grim and moving at the same time, I admit, but then it was a clever and original way to express your opposition to war and it certainly conveys an appropriate sense of hopelessness and loss. War-poem-turned-anarchopunk "In memoriam" is maybe the band's best songs, intense and profound, with that typical anarcho sensibility. It was recorded in 1987 during the same session as the Shall we Dance? split Lp. Top drawer, definitely.

Next are HDQ, a fairly well-known and respected band from Sunderland that included three members of Hex (and of course, Leatherface). I am not sure when "Bridges & walls" was recorded (1987? 1988?) but I guess it was with the same lineup as the You Suck! Lp that was also released on Meantime. So basically it was the melodic hardcore HDQ, a prime example of the British version of US melodic hardcore bands like 7 Second or Hüsker Dü. I like that song and I can definitely hear the similarities between this HDQ and late Hex. It's a winner, full of energy, passion and tunes (of course). 

The last band of Spleurk is Inside Out, the only non-British one on the Lp since they were an all-female trio from Detroit. I am not really familiar with them but I guess they fit well in this context. I suppose you could describe them as a proto-riot grrrl band, with that typical grungy rock sound and garage tones. I've never been much of a sucker for that specific early 90's American sound, precisely because it sounds too American for my ears, but this Inside Out's song does it for me. Quite poppy and punky at the same time, like cross between Androids of MU, Joyce McKinney Experience and US bands like The Gits. Fun and liberating.

To wrap it up, I have got some good news for you: you'll be able to find Spleurk for pretty cheap. I am not sure why, since it is a solid compilation from a significant label with some very strong songs and an ace-looking booklet, but there you go. If I were a cynical bastard I would venture that the reason is that the hipster fringe of the punk scene does not care for that sound (yet?) and prices haven't been inflated (yet?). A second volume of Spleurk was released in 1990 but I don't think it is quite as good, or maybe it's just not punky enough for me. Yet?     

Spleurk!